<USS Avalon> Time to Pay the Piper

Time to Pay the Piper
By Captain Keith Ketchum and Senior Lieutenant Karg White Feather
 
Karg made his way to the COs office and just as he left the turbo-lift he saw 
Dr. Roan leaving in her nightshirt, “Hmmm . . .” and as she saw him coming 
“
Greetings Doctor.” Felicity did not look pleased to be seen this way so Karg 
decided to mind his own business. 

Keith sat alone in his ready room, drumming his fingers on his desk. He 
learned to be patient, but his patience was wearing thin. He knew that Skyler 
wanted to be in this meeting but he thought it best that he handle it himself.

The chime rang to the office, “Enter.”

Karg walked in, “Excuse me Captain. Am I interrupting anything?”

“Not at all, I wanted to go over some recent issues that you seem to be 
having.”

Karg gave a perplexed look, “Sir?”

“Please sit. Within the past few weeks, you were AWOL for days on end, at 
Deep Space Nine. And just this week, you boarded the Allegiance without 
appropriate precautions, alone I might add. We hadn’t yet briefed the crew to 
find out 
what was going on, and you just go in there gung-ho, almost getting yourself 
killed.”

Karg looked like he wanted to interrupt but held his tongue for the moment.

“And I understand that Fleet Captain Offenburger has taken an interest in you 
also. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“First of all, sir, if you want to review the situation with Colonel Kira, I 
am willing to do that but I thought that we had already covered that area. I 
had a compelling reason which I explained in an earlier meeting we had. As to 
going to the Allegiance, I was my belief that the situation needed to be a 
Covert OP. If the intruder had gained access to their Com System than an away 
team 
might as well wear a neon sign as they’d have a deadly force waiting for 
them. As Chief of Covert OPS, It is my duty to gain Intel and analyze it before 
presenting it to you sir. Besides, Covert OPS is supposed to have some latitude 
in this area otherwise it wouldn’t be a covert op.”

Keith listened

“If you don’t mind sir I’ll get on with my report.”

Keith merely nods.

“The Allegiance has an intruder and its big. Think of Chewbacca on 
steroids.”
 Karg downloads his tricorder so that Keith can see the results of the fight. 
Keith winces a little when Karg was launched into the ceiling to come to rest 
some 30 feet away.

“How did you stop him?”
 
“That is coming sir.” The Mek’leth strike to the beast’s inner thigh 
even 
looked painful than in a moment, Karg drove it still deeper. “That sort of 
discouraged him from wanting to crush my skull. After that I beamed out and I 
actually did get to the Avalon... for about 30 seconds. Then Fleet Captain 
Offenburger beamed me to the Sutherland minus my Com Badge. He had a little 
drama 
prepared. He wanted me to believe that I was being interrogated so he could 
test 
my loyalty. He should work on the program a little. Usually interrogators beat 
you senseless right away. He started by having a Med-tech patch me up. 
Anyway, the short version is the Fleet Captain believes that at least one and 
possibly more Section 31 operatives are on the Avalon and he wants me to find 
out 
who they are.”

“I see.  Well”, Keith thought for a moment.  “If you had told me the 
information prior to your trek to the Allegiance there are ways to keep things 
quiet 
without going through the comm system on this ship.  However, we are past that 
now.  I will take under advisement the claims of Fleet Captain Offenburger, 
after all, he is my commanding officer, as well as Captain Kat’s, but had you 
told me what he said no more than a few hours ago, I would have both of you 
committed to the Institution on Gamma Prime.”

Karg nodded, almost thinking that Keith had talked to Fleet Captain 
Offenburger after he was there.

“Now as for the information that you discovered on the Allegiance, I want 
that information disbursed to the security teams.  We need to get that ship 
running without losing any more life.  I’d prefer to have him captured, and 
with 
what I’ve seen from other means regarding this creature.  Lieutenant Snuffy 
has 
been trying to track the creature on the Allegiance, and will try to keep 
everyone informed.”

“Aye Sir, they’ll need EVA Suits with helmets set for heat recognition and 
it wouldn’t be a bad idea to set a tricorder for weather scans. This thing is 
big. It’s gotta move a lot of air.”

“And I would assume that Fleet Captain Offenburger has given you some leeway 
in the other situation he discussed with you, he usually does that”, Keith 
smiled.  “Well, hopefully it will not be against his orders to provide me the 
information if you do find anything also.  I would like to know which of my 
crew 
is playing the other side of the Intel game.”
 
“That will be my pleasure sir.”
 
“Well, I do appreciate that”, Keith smiled, “The rest we’ll sweep under 
the 
carpet for now.  Dissmissed, Senior Lieutenant, and keep up the good work.”

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